He obtained his Ph.D. in 1993 at Uppsala University and was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Michael Gra ¨tzel (1993-1994) at EPFL, Switzerland. His research focuses on physical chemical characterization of mesoporous electrodes for different types of optoelectronic devices, specifically dye-sensitized solar cells. He has about 200 scientific publications and 8 patent applications. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), Stockholm, and a visiting professor at the

Across chemical disciplines, an interest in developing artificial water splitting to O(2) and H(2), driven by sunlight, has been motivated by the need for practical and environmentally friendly power generation without the consumption of fossil fuels. The central issue in light-driven water splitting is the efficiency of the water oxidation, which in the best-known catalysts falls short of the desired level by approximately two orders of magnitude. Here, we show that it is possible to close that 'two orders of magnitude' gap with a rationally designed molecular catalyst [Ru(bda)(isoq)(2)] (H(2)bda = 2,2'-bipyridine-6,6'-dicarboxylic acid; isoq = isoquinoline). This speeds up the water oxidation to an unprecedentedly high reaction rate with a turnover frequency of >300 s(-1). This value is, for the first time, moderately comparable with the reaction rate of 100-400 s(-1) of the oxygen-evolving complex of photosystem II in vivo.